Description
To anyone making this, a few notes:
I diluted mine to 15% in ethanol. At this concentration it matches closely to the potency of my 10% ambergris solution.
The beta ionone is too high for the real material but it really adds lift to the labdanum - it needs to be dosed carefully.
I suggest using your favourite labdanum - I purchase mine as a resin which I dissolve into ethanol. Some of the solids do not dissolve and so the potency may be lower than a sample dissolved in another solvent.
My construction thoughts:
The core aroma of ambergris, to me, is an interplay of phenolics with a rich and elegant brininess. I arrive at the brine through the velvety Grisalva with ambrox super, adoxal and ambrinol. The musks add this sense of softness, age and elegance, and the labdanum offers a naturalising effect. The ionone lifts this labdanum to the same space as the phenolics to give the impression of natural ambergris.
Other phenolics also work quite well. Benzyl benzoate has the same character. Cinnamyl alcohol as well. These both require different dosing of course.
I hope you make this formula and perhaps even experiment with it from here. I can't promise that it will do the same magical things that real ambergris does in a formula, but I wish that it will get you excited and inspired!